One Health: How Interdependence Enriches Veterinary Ethics Education

Abstract

Simple Summary:The idea of One Health acknowledges the interdependence of human and non-human animal health against the backdrop of a shared environment. This requires collaboration across disciplines to tackle complex health problems. How does One Health affect the education of veterinary ethics, traditionally restricted to both animal and professional ethics? First, veterinary ethics education provides an opportunity within the curriculum for students to engage with the meaning and implication of One Health, so as to develop their own viewpoint. Similarly, One Health can enrich veterinary ethics. It does so by introducing relevant ethical fields and other cultural perspectives, as well as promoting ways of teaching that motivate and sensitize students to become aware of the underlying interdependency and complexity of health issues while at the same time fostering their capacity for ethical problem solving. Abstract: What does One Health imply for veterinary ethics education?In order to answer this question, we will first have to establish what One Health itself involves. The meaning and scope of One Health, however, cannot be established without reference to its values-whose health matters? Veterinary ethics education is well equipped to facilitate such an open-ended inquiry into multispecies health. One Health also widens the scope of veterinary ethics by making salient, among other fields, environmental ethics, global health justice, and non-Western approaches to ethics. Finally, One Health requires students to engage with interdependence. Discussing three levels of interdependence, we argue that veterinary ethics stands to benefit from a more contemplative pedagogy.

US veterinarians' perceptions of discussing COVID-19 vaccination with animal owners during routine visits

“…The veterinarian's oath, within the US, specifically states in being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine one would “solemnly swear to use [their] scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through… the promotion of public health.” Although most participants (89.4%) either completely or somewhat agreed that veterinarians are human health advocates, our findings highlight potential internal and external barriers to promoting the public's health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nieuwland and Beijboom [ 40 ] note the rise of One Health further enhances the interdependence of human and non-human health which requires the expansion of veterinary ethics. Considering this, we believe our findings bring forward a critical question— Are there professional ethical issues that arise if a veterinarian is not actively engaging in promotion of public health?…”

Establishing Animal Welfare Rules of Conduct for the Portuguese Veterinary Profession—Results from a Policy Delphi with Vignettes

“…In the words of Nieuwland and Meijboom: Veterinarians have to operate in a force-field of various responsibilities, obligations, demands and expectations, of which One Health appears only to make more complicated. However, letting complexity and conflicting demands narrow and blunt moral agency should be prevented if only to protect the wellbeing of veterinarians themselves [ 33 ].…”

Being with other animals: Transitioning toward sustainable food futures

“…Biologically, the embodied human individual appears an ecosystem in and of itself (Beever and Morar, 2016), dependent on an unimaginable number of non-human beings living inside human bodies that, as symbionts, enable growth and development of the individual (Gilbert et al, 2012). Moreover, we are always ecologically embedded, even transitively interdependent with the biosphere at large (Nieuwland and Meijboom, 2019).…”